DIY: Make a Lovely Gift Bag & Repurposed Box

For my first Make it! Monday post, I will be sharing with you how to make a lovely gift bag and repurpose a box using wrapping papers. (Make it! Monday is a post where I will be writing about simple yet wonderful tutorials to be posted every other Mondays of the month).

This is actually the last part of my first series — the Wrapping Paper Projects. Pretty long overdue, eh? Sadly, yes. I don’t really understand why and what took me this long to finish but I’m guessing — what better month to publish a post such as this than the month of gift-giving, right? So without further ado, let’s head straight with the process, ok?

What you’ll need:

Wrapping papers

A pair of scissors

Adhesive (double sided tape, glue tape or scotch tape – your choice)

Ribbon

An old box

2-hole puncher

Scorer (optional)

As you’ve seen on the photo above, today we will be making two projects — the handmade paper bag and repurposing an old box. Both are super easy, I tell you. But let’s start with the project with several steps to finish. Ready?

For the first step of the lovely gift bag, I used 1 page of the wrapping paper book– it’s about the size of an A4 paper. And fold it in the middle, overlapping the ends to about an inch.

Now this is what I use my score tool for– to make crisp edges.

Then I glue the middle using my glue tape. Be careful not to over apply the glue so the inside part won’t stick too.

Now move to the bottom part, fold to about an inch.

Open the flap of the folded portion

Move to the corner and flatten to a triangular shape like so… Do it on both size of the bottom.

The bottom should be folded and should look like the first picture on the set above.

Fold the upper flap to half and do the same to the bottom– but make it overlap the first flap so it adheres to it when the glue is applied.

Once you’re done folding, glue them to close.

We’ve just finished the bottom, let’s now move on to the top portion of the lovely gift bag… Open it! If you’re using this paper bag, now is the best time to put your present inside.

Fold the top to close, about 1 1/2 to 2 inches.

Using your puncher, punch 2-holes on your enclosed paper bag.

This is the part where we will be using our ribbon — insert it on both holes and make a lovely bow to close your lovely handmade gift bag!

We’re done with the gift bag, let’s proceed with the steps to repurpose old boxes… I love doing this one since it helps me put to good use the old boxes lying around at home. Not to mention, the part that we’re helping save Mother Earth by doing up cycling is an added bonus! I find this project best to repurpose my BDJ boxes. I kind of have tons at home already cos yummy goodies are being sent in boxes that arrives every month… 🙂

Place your box on top of your wrapping paper to measure the size. Making sure that the sides will be completely covered and wrapped with the wrapping paper.

Once sure with the measurement, apply adhesive (for this project I opted to use a double sided adhesive).

Cut the corner into a straight line and fold to the box. Glue the short flaps from the sides first so that the longer flap would completely cover the gap.

Repeat step #3 on all sides.

Your finish box should look like the one on the last photo above.

Perfect! Perfect projects for the merry month of gift giving, right? Now you can wrap your gifts using stylish wrapping paper designs from the wrapping paper book and still remain Earth friendly by repurposing old boxes you might have at home. Top that, your presents are sure to come in pretty prints cos the wrapping paper comes in unique and super cute designs!

I hope you loved our tutorial for today. If you have wrapped your gifts using this method, please link up to me through the comments. I would love to see how you did your projects, too! 🙂